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You hear coaches and athletes all the time talk about having a short memory. Typically, that adage centers on forgetting what happened in the previous game, whether good or bad. For Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers, it also means not thinking about what happened during the 2014 postseason, when the Donald Sterling racism fiasco took center stage as the Clippers were embroiled in a heated first-round series with Golden State.

If not for recent events that catastrophically effected their careers, these five people were certain to be among the 50 most powerful in L.A. sports. From former Clippers owner Donald Sterling being banned from the NBA for life to Josh Hamilton’s drug relapse seemingly costing him the support of the organization that signed him to a $125 million contract, several of the city’s prominent sports figures have fallen from grace.

Dr. Jerry Buss and Peter O’Malley took ownership of Los Angeles’ two largest sports brands 35 years ago. The value, glamour and status by virtue of owning the Lakers or Dodgers catapulted both to the apex in a market where sports intersects with celebrity, creating an elixir of power and money.

The few, the proud, the Clippers ... It’s hard to tell who the old guys are in this series. Six Spurs are in their 30s including Tim Duncan, who’ll be 39 for Game 4; Manu Ginobili, 37; and Tony Parker, 32, assuming that was him getting outscored 52-11 by Chris Paul in Games 1 and 2.

LOS ANGELES — Before a woman’s recordings of Donald Sterling ousted him as owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, she boasted she would be the next Mrs. Sterling. V. Stiviano would pick up envelopes of cash in an alley behind the billionaire’s real estate company and told employees at the firm she would one day be their boss.

The line to get on the stationary bike was as stationary as the bike itself. How did it totally escape my mind that this is what always happens every January? All the equipment begging for users nearly each one of the 24 hours that this 24 Hour Fitness is open now requires members, without regard to tenure, to stand off to the side with arms folded and earbuds engaged, wondering if there is any etiquette in place when a seat finally become available.

Next year, the country will mark 50 years since Martin Luther King Jr. led marchers from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act and President Lyndon B. Johnson signed it into law.

Editor’s note: This is the first weekly NBA column by Mark Heisler for the Los Angeles News Group. Heisler has covered the NBA for more than 30 years and is among a select few writers honored by the Basketball Hall of Fame with the Curt Gowdy award.

A judge Thursday dismissed the remaining civil allegations filed in a countersuit brought by Donald Sterling’s former courtside companion V. Stiviano, who alleged she was defamed by various people within the Sterling family and their enterprises.

When Shelly Sterling was approached by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer about buying the Los Angeles Clippers, the wife of disgraced team owner Donald Sterling did not know who he was. But in short order, she persuaded him the team was worth an unprecedented $2 billion.

The Clippers on Wednesday announced Doc Rivers, head coach and president of basketball operations, has signed a five-year contract extension through the 2018-19 season. “This is an important day for this organization,” Clippers owner Steve Ballmer said.

Through their first 27 years in Los Angeles, the Clippers had been the picture of sports futility: 17 head coaches, 20 top-10 draft picks, one playoff series win. And, of course, Donald Sterling, arguably the most despised owner in the country.

Donald Sterling is out. Steve Ballmer is in as the new owner of the Clippers. This time, it’s official. What a joyous day in Los Angeles. A wonderful day in history for the Clippers. “I am humbled and honored to be the new owner of the Los Angeles Clippers,”

From the moment Donald Sterling’s voice was heard uttering those repulsive, racist comments on the now-infamous audio-taped conversation with girlfriend V. Stiviano, the NBA had no choice but to remove him as owner of the Clippers.

At a Lakers’ press conference introducing its new head coach Tuesday, team legend Magic Johnson was asked about — of all things — the Clippers. “What’s my reaction to the Sterling ruling?” he responded.

Clippers head coach Doc Rivers could leave the team if Donald Sterling remains its owner, interim CEO Dick Parsons testified Tuesday. Taking the stand for the first time in a probate trial that could determine ownership of the Los Angeles basketball franchise, Parsons said he has had three conversations with Rivers since being appointed as interim CEO in May.

LOS ANGELES — The future of the Los Angeles Clippers is closer to decision as testimony resumes Monday in a probate trial over whether a deal negotiated by Donald Sterling’s estranged wife to sell the team for $2 billion is authorized under a Sterling family trust.

What was scheduled to be the longest day in the Sterling probate trial turned out to be the shortest. Donald Sterling’s attorneys submitted an updated 10-person witness list last week, setting up Monday’s court date to be filled with testimony.

Shelly Sterling could be called back to the stand next week. There’s a chance her husband, Donald, could as well. The testimony of the two Sterlings seized headlines last week as their probate trial to determine control of the Los Angeles Clippers started July 7 and ran through its first four days.

Donald Sterling turned a Los Angeles courtroom into his personal stage last week, calling his wife a “pig,” telling opposing attorney Bert Fields to “be a man,” and vowing to sue the NBA until the day he dies.

Shelly Sterling returned to a Los Angeles courtroom Thursday and insisted that her husband, Donald Sterling, had given her full authority to sell the Los Angeles Clippers and was initially overjoyed by a $2 billion offer for the team, despite his later denials.

The Los Angeles News Group obtained a transcript of Donald Sterling’s court appearance on Tuesday, July 9, arguing that Shelly Sterling does not have the right to sell the Los Angeles Clippers franchise.

In his second appearance in Los Angeles Superior Court this week, Donald Sterling sat on the stand Wednesday and swore to sue the NBA until he died, questioned the league’s finances, and accused its officials of lying.

LOS ANGELES — A civil court judge today asked for written briefs from attorneys on whether he or a family law jurist should hear a lawsuit filed by the wife of Clippers owner Donald Sterling against a woman she alleges induced her husband into a sexual affair and convinced him to give her millions of dollars in cash and property.

LOS ANGELES — After being a no-show in court on the first day of testimony, Donald Sterling is expected to take the stand today in a non-jury trial over whether his wife has the authority to sell the Los Angeles Clippers.

In his first appearance in a trial that may determine ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers, a combative Donald Sterling gave a packed room everything it could have expected. He sparred with noted attorney Bert Fields, calling him “weird” and a “smartass.

The legal showdown between Donald and Shelly Sterling continues Tuesday, July 8 as husband and wife argue their cases for who has the right to sell the Los Angeles Clippers franchise. Donald Sterling is expected to testify Tuesday, July 8 in Los Angeles Superior Court.

After weeks of legal wrangling, the showdown between Donald and Shelly Sterling finally started Monday, though with the absence of its key figure. As the trial opened in Los Angeles Superior Court after being delayed all morning, Shelly Sterling’s attorney Pierce O’Donnell stood up, scanned the courtroom, and called Donald Sterling as his first witness.

LOS ANGELES — With the potentially record-breaking $2 billion sale of the Los Angeles Clippers hanging in the balance, a trial beginning Monday will focus on whether Donald Sterling’s estranged wife had the authority under terms of a family trust to unilaterally negotiate the deal.

LOS ANGELES — With a $2 billion sale of the Los Angeles Clippers hanging in the balance, a judge is set to determine Monday if the terms of a family trust alone are enough to confirm Donald Sterling was properly removed as trustee and allow his estranged wife to sell the team without his consent.

Predicting a short trial, the judge overseeing the looming court battle between Donald and Shelly Sterling said Monday that the provisions of the Sterling family trust appear to favor Shelly’s effort to assert control over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Judge Michael I. Levanas declined a motion for a court order preventing Donald Sterling and his attorneys from “directly or indirectly threatening, harassing and/or intimidating any trial witness” leading up to a July 7 hearing that could determine ownership of the Clippers on Thursday.

Shelly Sterling’s legal team plans to ask a probate judge today for an order to protect witnesses from intimidation by Donald Sterling in her trial aiming to assert her control over the Los Angeles Clippers.

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s team of lawyers has hired four private investigation firms to dig up dirt on the NBA’s former and current commissioners and its 29 other owners, said a person familiar with Sterling’s legal strategy.

LOS ANGELES — Donald and Shelly Sterling, the long-separated married couple whose peaceful partnership atop the Los Angeles Clippers is described by one person close to them as “a strange estrangement,” will face off as official foes for the first time Wednesday when their lawyers appear in court with the team they share and a $2 billion deal hanging on the outcome.

For the rest of her life, Shelly Sterling will officially be known as “Clipper’s Number 1 Fan” and “Owner Emeritus.” That was one of several stipulations in the binding term sheet the Clippers owner signed with former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, one that also detailed how Sterling could spin off a portion of the franchise into a charitable foundation.

Setting off a legal battle over the $2 billion sale of the Clippers, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Wednesday ordered a July court hearing to decide whether Shelly Sterling can sell the franchise.

The next step in the Clippers legal drama will pit Sterling against Sterling. Nearly two weeks after pushing through a $2 billion sale of the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Shelly Sterling is expected to ask a judge to confirm her control of the Sterling Family Trust on Wednesday.